


The Enemy of My Enemy

by janonny



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-17
Updated: 2012-09-17
Packaged: 2017-11-14 11:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/514572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janonny/pseuds/janonny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Loki said in a low voice, “Yes, but at least you will be dead. And quiet.”</i>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <i>Tony expanded the schematics in front of him and added to them with quick movements of his hands. “Yes, yes, I love you too, boo boo.”</i><br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	The Enemy of My Enemy

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DISTRACTERISEY! :D :D :D This is not my pairing at all, but for you, I'll give it a shot. 
> 
> So much gratitude goes to [astro_frog5](http://astro_frog5.livejournal.com/) who is a lifesaver of a beta-reader. She finished this on such short notice! All mistakes are my own, because I'm editing this really late into the night and I'm half-asleep.
> 
> Ps: Thanos is an alien who has met and fallen in love with the female embodiment of Death. The Infinity Gauntlet grants its wearer God-like power. It has been spotted in the movie Thor.

Loki prowled around the chamber, moving in a spiral towards the center. He could feel the magic thrumming at the edges of the room, combining with the metal to hold the world outside at bay. For all that it was his power keeping the chamber safe from seeking eyes, the confinement still felt too similar to his time as a prisoner. But this time round, he had company.

“The power drain is not efficient enough to sustain for more than five minutes, which will mean a catastrophic overload at minute five. That’s not enough time to do much with it,” muttered Tony, hands gesturing towards the metal web sprawled out above them, before shifting through the hologram he was working on. “I guess if anyone’s blowing up the Earth, it might as well be me rather than some crazy-ass alien. No offense to any crazy-ass aliens present.”

“Shall I demonstrate my craziness by removing your liver from your body?” asked Loki as he came to a stop behind Tony.

“Sure thing, you’re welcome to that over-taxed organ. And the moment I die, the AI in here will open up the bunker’s walls, and since your spells won’t work without an enclosed room, Thanos will find you and eat you for supper. That will demonstrate your crazy real well,” said Tony without even looking back.

Loki said in a low voice, “Yes, but at least you will be dead. And _quiet_.”

Tony expanded the schematics in front of him and added to them with quick movements of his hands. “Yes, yes, I love you too, boo boo.”

Tony’s lack of fear battered at Loki’s already short temper. But threats were of no use, because Loki did need Tony, just as Tony needed Loki. It was an unholy union to battle a common enemy. He couldn’t hurt Tony, but those threats were never the most effective with him anyway; Tony’s soft underbelly was not physical or so easily seen.

Loki leaned in, whispering against Tony’s ear, “I forget how hard you work to save the world, locked up in this little cell, completely unharmed while your friends and the world fight to stay alive outside.”

Tony stiffened. “You’re in here as well.”

“Yessss,” hissed Loki. “But I never claimed to be a savior, one of Earth’s mightiest heroes.”

“Thanks for your input and the intrusion on my personal space, but this was their plan as well and you know it. They need us to work on the weapon without Thanos finding us,” Tony said, his voice calm, but Loki could sense the thread of oily self-doubt snaking through his words. His insecurities were _delicious_.

Loki smiled. “Yes, I’m sure they all still think the same out there, while they are being picked off one by one. You go back to work. I’ll get our dinner ready then, _my dear_.”

Tony’s back was stiff, but he shot Loki a dirty look which indicated he knew that he had been manipulated. It didn’t matter. Loki didn’t want him so crushed by his doubt that he tried to go out there to help his friends in a fit of inanity; he was merely looking for some entertainment. Cooped up in this small space for two days already, Loki would take his amusements where he could.

# # #

It wasn’t always sharp edges and scratching at each other’s raw wounds until the other snapped, though. Sometimes Tony was quiet, silent in a way that Loki had not been able to imagine until he had seen it for himself. When Tony’s bouts of manic activity had passed, he could sink into long minutes of stillness as schematics and calculations played out in his mind. It was almost restive to see him so absorbed in his own work. Then, he would emerge from his mental world and kinetic energy would fill his body as he worked with his hands and talked through his ideas. Those moments were far from restive; they were similar to watching the restless _gilad_ leap around a room, the small Asgardian mammals in constant motion when awake. Tony inspired the same urge in Loki to pin him down.

They worked together despite their differences. Their discussions on how best to meld technology and magic were often littered with cutting words and mockery, but it was, strangely, the easiest interaction Loki had in years. Tony matched him in wit and did not have the self-preservation to be afraid of him. Sometimes Loki wanted to make him fearful, wanted to watch his eyes dilate and his limbs tremble, just to see if it was possible to wreck that reckless self-assurance. And to see if Tony could be put back together the same again. Those moments passed as the steady dark eyes returned his hungry gaze with no hint of concern.

“Do you think this is close enough?” asked Tony, gesturing at the hologram in front of him.

Loki sneered. “Your penmanship leaves much to desire. You will be fortunate if you could fool a child with that.”

Tony glared, using his hands to adjust the schematic floating in the air. “It’s not my penmanship. Forming complex Asgardian symbols using circuitry, while ensuring the technology works, isn’t exactly part of my skill set. Now show me how that tail end thing should look.”

“It’s the _accent_ ,” Loki said in irritation, but he leaned forward to move his hands through the circuitry shown in the air. In some ways, Tony’s technology was almost like magic. But it was so much less reliable, with its dependencies on tiny, breakable parts. Loki wondered how Tony would fare working purely on Asgard’s form of science. He might be better with it than he could imagine.

They worked on Tony’s armor until Loki was frustrated and insisted they looked at the Cube instead. It would not matter if they distracted Thanos only to fail to subdue him with their trap. They needed to harness the Cosmic Cube’s energy for that.

Loki’s hands hovered over the bright blue Cube suspended in the middle of their metal web. “The energy is too confined. I will not be able to summon more than half of its power to channel into the trap.”

He remembered a time when his world was tinged in a blue haze, his soul absorbed in the consuming power of the Cube. It would be too easy to lay hands on it again and be swept away by the torrent of the universe’s essence. He could be filled with power once again, sparks surging through his blood and coursing over his skin.

“It’s confined for a reason. Without a specific direction, it’ll just blast the web apart.”

The words broke through his haze of power-lust. They reminded him of the reason he had brought the Cube to Midgard. It would be of no use to take control of the Cosmic Cube again, because it alone would not be enough to defeat Thanos. If they could not wrest control of the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos, then there would be no undoing what he had already done with it. Asgard would still remain ravaged, more than half its people dead. Loki did not care, not about that, never about that anymore, but Asgard was _his_ , not Thanos’. Asgard was his to preserve or destroy, not an interloper who was so crazed he was courting _Death_. Loki might owe his freedom to Thanos, whose attack had unwittingly destroyed the runes that had bound him, but it was a debt he would repay only with Thanos’ own blood.

“We must adjust the runes again,” said Loki.

Tony’s hands were already flying through the air, calling commands that had his machines moving and adjusting the Cube and the metal web around it. “I think I can add more loops to amplify the power output while increasing the web’s ability to withstand a higher energy source. What do you want to do with the runes?”

“I will create new ones that will better channel the Cube’s power,” said Loki as he drew experimental runes of fire in the air and attempted to create a new branch of sorcery.

Tony shuffled away from him. “I have an Artificial Intelligence and a holographic interface you can draw on. Must you use _fire_?”

It wasn’t real fire, but Loki did not correct him. “But then you would not scuttle away so amusingly.”

“You’re a riot,” said Tony as he turned back to his work. “But the cackling megalomaniacal sense of humor is so last year.”

Loki finished drawing his experimental runes in the air and commanded, “Be quiet, Stark. Now, incorporate this in the first line of your metal web.”

Tony raised his eyebrows. “No, because the last time you tested your fancy new runes straight onto the live wires and Cube, there was a not-so-minor explosion, and I like my hair singe-free, thank you.”

Loki sighed impatiently. “I do not know why you’re complaining. I shielded you, after all, and the fire was only a small one.”

“I could have shielded myself just fine, and call me crazy, but I have something against fires in confined places. I’m etching your new runes on our trial trap first.”

“Humans are so tedious.”

“Back at you, sweetcheeks.”

Midgardian expressions were nonsensical. Or perhaps just Tony’s, since he could often be very infuriating.

Their progress was not as quick as Loki would prefer, but it was occasionally thrilling to work with a mortal who could _almost_ keep up with him. He had never experienced the same synchronicity working with anyone before. Not that he had worked with many in his past. There was also an undeniable symmetry to the magic and Midgardian technology they were weaving together, and the work was almost pleasing, if not for its urgent purpose.

Tony cracked his neck. “It will take some time to etch on the prototype. We should try out your reconfigured scepter and my suit again.”

Loki said, “They’re far from ready.”

“Yes, but I’m going stir-crazy here, and since when did you become the voice of reason when it comes to playing with weapons?”

He smiled, a slow challenging expression. “Good point.”

# # #

For the past two days, they had been living in a small underground bunker that only had three rooms. Now, Tony had dropped the wall between their bedrooms with a wave of his hand and the beds had folded into the floor, leaving them a clear space for their test.

Loki twirled the Chitauri scepter in his hands, relishing the changes they had made to it. Tony had amplified its connection to the Cosmic Cube with his arc reactor technology, while Loki had weaved his sorcery into its staff so that it couldn’t be wielded by another. The energy surging through it was more formidable than ever, and the feel of it had changed, tasting of pulsing power, whispering mechanical parts and warm, human blood. It was almost like holding Tony’s heart in his hands.

Loki shook off the moment of introspection and swung the scepter around idly as he paced the now bare room. Tony was in his metal suit, just dropping the helmet over his head. The red and gold armor was etched in runes that Loki had given him. Tony had complained incessantly about ‘graffiti’, but Loki felt that it had vastly improved the aesthetic of the suit. It was like he had left his imprint on Tony’s most precious creation.

“Shall we begin?” asked Loki with a toothy smile.

Tony answered with a repulsor blast. It was easy enough to dodge the attack even as he lunged forward. Tony brought up an arm to block his swing, but Loki teleported behind him, bringing down the scepter on his shoulder. He barely made contact before he was blasted away by the missiles that launched from the back of Tony’s shoulders.

“I have motion sensors for people appearing at my back,” said Tony, moving fast to face him.

Loki flipped to his feet. “You are not worried that you will hit one of your teammates.”

“It’s keyed in to react to your magic,” said Tony in his distorted, mechanical voice. Loki did not like it, and he expressed that by throwing a blast from his scepter.

“I’m honored,” said Loki, mocking.

They exchanged blows like this for awhile, throwing energy blasts at each other while dodging attacks. Loki released three consecutive blasts before darting in close, smashing a fist against Tony’s torso that sent him flying. But Tony immediately launched two missiles at him, and even though Loki moved to the side at blurring speed, the missiles followed him. Energy seeking missiles, very clever. Loki dodged and weaved, twirling to separate the missiles. As they chased him from two different directions, he flipped to the ground and they collided against each other in a small explosion.

A repulsor blast hit him in the side, and he tumbled. Leaping to his feet, he blocked a blow with his scepter and threw off the armored arm with a forceful push.

“Your toys cannot stop me,” he said with a grin as he projected several illusions of himself all around the room and surrounding Tony.

The suit swung around, shooting an impressive array of repulsor blasts, sonic blasts and missiles around the room. But Loki had teleported to the ceiling as he created the illusions, and now he dropped down on Tony with a solid blast from his scepter. Tony crashed to the ground, but threw Loki off immediately and smoke filled the room. Oh, very interesting. Tony was finally using the runes incorporated into his armor.

The room was filled with movement as several other armors emerged around Loki. How flattering, Tony was going for straight out imitation of his earlier trick. But it was very unimaginative. Tony wasn’t above him, Loki knew. He was hidden among the illusions, but it was amusing that he thought Loki could not see through illusions created by his own runes. One of the sets of armors shone brighter with familiar magic, and Loki blasted at him.

The armor dissipated into thin air, and suddenly Loki was hammered by multiple repulsor blasts from behind him. He fell to the ground and raised his scepter only for it to be blasted away.

Rolling onto his back, Loki raised his hands. “I yield.”

Tony paused, hands open to throw more firepower at him. “Really? That doesn’t seem very like you.”

Loki relaxed onto the ground and rolled his eyes. “This is merely practice, is it not? I did not think we were going to battle to death before facing down Thanos.”

Ten heartbeats passed before Tony lowered his hands. He craned his head back to look at his armor. “Fuck, you dented my shoulder piece and killed the joint. I’ll need to make a new one.”

He walked to the wall and several mechanical limbs emerged from sliding panels to remove his suit in an easy, elegant dance of metal parts moving human ones. Loki took a moment to admire the emerging body, clad in black, close-fitting underarmor. Even this soft material was etched in fine gold runes, and Loki decided that it looked pleasing.

“How did you create an illusion that projected the rune magic more than the others?” asked Loki curiously.

Tony walked over to him with a smug smirk. “I didn’t just project myself; I projected that particular image with a couple overlays of runes, so it probably felt more solidly magic to you. It was a gamble that worked rather nicely.”

“It will not fool me twice,” said Loki.

“I’ll have a new trick next time,” said Tony without any doubt, bending down to give Loki a hand up. Ah, too much training with their Captain America had ingrained some bad habits in Tony.

In a blink, he had yanked Tony to the ground and pinned him down with the scepter up against his bared throat.

“What—”

“Now it’s your turn to yield,” said Loki with a smirk of his own.

Tony stared at the scepter. “But it was over—” He cut himself off, turning to look at the other scepter on the ground that shimmered into nothing. “An illusion.”

Loki pressed Tony’s head back down. “You still trust your fallible human eyes far too easily.”

There was a beat of silence, and then Tony relaxed, shrugged. “But I ended up where I wanted to be anyway. Not too bad for a fallible human.”

It took a quick moment to parse his meaning. Perhaps Tony wasn’t as influenced by the good Captain as Loki had presumed. He laughed. “Are we starting a different game, Stark?”

Tony grinned, looking at him from beneath dark lashes. “Sure, we can call it a game. I like games. I’m very good at them.”

“Yes, but I am better,” said Loki, dropping his scepter and leaning down to catch those irritatingly soft lips.

It was fast and aggressive. Loki’s clothing melted away with a thought, and he delighted in ripping the body suit Tony wore in strategic places. He liked the sight of the torn black material against tanned skin, rewarding this exposure with sharp bites. Tony moaned and writhed against him, scratching sharp lines down Loki’s back. When they kissed again, it was a clash of lips, as much nipping and sharp teeth as there were tongues and pressing lips.

“Come on, come on,” said Tony, his voice wrecked as he yanked at his own bodysuit.

Loki grinned and ripped it all the way down, dragging his hand to follow the exposed line of flesh. He curled his fingers around Tony’s erection, laughing at the guttural moan he received. Tony grabbed two handfuls of Loki’s backside in turn and pressed up to rub his belly against Loki’s arousal.

“You’re so impatient,” said Loki before he sucked a deep bruise into Tony’s shoulder, admiring the mark he left behind.

“Less talking, more sexing,” gasped Tony, wriggling down so that he could align their cocks and thrust up.

Loki groaned at the feeling of Tony’s hard flesh sliding against his own. He wrapped his hands around their thrusting cocks. He could feel Tony leaking pre-come, using the fluid to ease the motion between them. He pulled and squeezed, his hips moving with Tony’s in a fluid, pleasure-seeking rhythm. Tony ran his hand through Loki’s hair before pulling him down for another wet, open-mouthed kiss. They moved and rubbed against each other until Loki felt Tony tensing up, muscular thighs pushing up as his body arched.

Loki pulled away to watch. “I want to see you come apart in my hands, cry out _my_ name. Show me, let me feel it.”

He squeezed harder and relished the pulse in his hand, the jittering motion as Tony reached his climax with a bared neck and Loki’s name on his lips. Loki bit down on his neck, pulling at his own cock with sharp jerks until he came all over Tony’s thighs and still pulsing cock.

Without ceremony, Loki dropped back down onto Tony and sucked lazily at his neck even as his hips undulated lazily against Tony’s. He felt a returned twitch of interest, and his body shivered with desire. Before he could move his heavy limbs, Tony’s thighs clenched around him and with a sudden twist of his hips, their positions were reversed. Loki looked up at Tony’s smile. His dark eyes were dilated with arousal, not the fear he once imagined.

“So, what’s the recovery time for Asgardians?”

Loki leaned up to suck on Tony’s lower lip, releasing it with a slow, sensual flick of his tongue. Tony’s eyes were heavy with lust, and the sight of it had Loki stretching in pleasure, showing off his long, pale body. “Why don’t you find out?”

# # #

Tony was wearing a tank top, his broad shoulders and biceps moving and flexing as he fiddled with his armor. It was a sight Loki was used to finding… _inspiring_ by now.

“We’re ready,” said Tony without looking up.

Loki dragged a hand over his scepter that was suspended in the air. It sparked with energy, but different from any he’d felt before. It was wild and roiling, but with direction now. Above them sprawled the web of flexible metal, the glowing Cube sitting in its center, ready to unleash its energy when the time was right. Tony gestured with his hand and all the lines of metal in the web retracted to close around the Cube. It dropped smoothly into Tony’s hand. He flipped the metal Cube between clever fingers — so very clever with metal and with flesh, Loki now knew — before placing it in an open slot in his armor.

Walking up behind him, Loki trailed his fingers over Tony’s neck, down his bared shoulder and arm. He touched with the same proprietary affection that he handled his scepter, and felt a surge of greed when Tony’s smooth skin prickled with goosebumps under his touch. Tony turned and allowed himself be reeled into a kiss.

“We shall go after we have rested,” said Loki against those parted lips. “The world can wait another hour.”

He felt Tony smile into the next kiss. The new development between them was unlabelled and unexplained, but Loki didn’t care. He would have it for as long as he could, hold that sharp face between his hands and take and take before they went out to greet the end of the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this piece of Frost Iron! I don't know how much of a present this is since I'm not good at this pairing...but regardless, happy birthday again, distracterisey!


End file.
